Count Your Blessings
by Dixie Darlin
Summary: After reading some hurtful comments about herself on the internet, Vanellope takes a drive to clear her head. She ends up running into the world's most hated cartoon character, and the two of them learn together to count their blessings.


**_Warning: Contains Wreck-It Ralph spoilers. _**

_Wreck-It Ralph belongs to Disney. The other characters mentioned belong to Hanna-Barbera._

* * *

**Count Your Blessings**

"She's such an annoying brat! I can't stand smart-aleck kids like her."

"Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard! I cringe every time she speaks, not even kidding."

"She can't run a kingdom by herself! She's only _nine_!"

These and more were the types of comments that Vanellope von Schweetz discovered when she decided to take a peek into the various _Wreck-It Ralph_ fandom websites. Sure, the number of people who loved her greatly outnumbered those who didn't like her, but it still hurt that people out there flat-out couldn't stand her. She knew she shouldn't let it bother her, and that it was ridiculous to expect everyone in the world to love her, but being a nine-year-old child with a history of being bullied, she couldn't quite shake off the hurt she felt.

At least now she knew why Ralph had told her not to go on the internet. He'd known all along that she'd find things that would hurt her feelings; good ol' Stinkbrain, always trying to protect her. Some part of her was angry that he hadn't bothered to tell her, as if he thought she wouldn't be able to handle a few people not liking her, but another part of her felt warm and fuzzy that she had someone to look out for her after all those years of being ostracized and bullied. Ralph knew how it felt to be treated in such a way also, and he had only being trying to keep her from getting more hurt.

Normally, Vanellope would have gone to Ralph to vent her frustrations out to, but he was currently in a meeting with the other members of Bad-Anon over at _Pac-Man_. Why he still went there, she wasn't sure; it's not like anyone really viewed him as a 'bad guy' after his heroic duties (she snickered in memory of her 'doody' joke) in _Sugar Rush_. Felix and Calhoun, her other good friends, were out doing whatever it was married couples do.

The candy-haired president sighed as she drove in her kart down the road, not really paying attention to where she was headed. She had driven out of the_ Wreck-It Ralph_ world completely via the exit at the end of Game Central Station. She very rarely ventured forth into other worlds featuring fictional characters, and this was definitely her first time going alone. Ralph would probably have a conniption fit if/when he found out about her random day trip.

Vanellope's mind was on auto-pilot as she drove through the unfamiliar city that she'd found herself in. Nothing special, just a bunch of hand-drawn skyscrapers, smaller businesses, and other things that one would see in a Real World city. She didn't bother to admire the surroundings, just kept on driving straight with no planned destination in mind.

"HEY, WATCH IT!"

The sudden voice snapped her out of her thoughts, and Vanellope shouted in surprise as she ran a red light, just narrowly avoiding an accident with an 18-wheeler. She tried to get control of her kart again, but smashed the front end into a lightpole, crumpling the entire front end of the vehicle like an accordion. Her bubblegum airbag flew out and prevented her from flying forward, knocking her back into her seat. She thought to herself that _Sugar Rush_ should probably install seat belts into the karts in case of accidents like this.

Once the bag deflated, she fought her way out of the mess and groaned at the damage. "Too bad Felix isn't here."

"Hey, you!"

It was the voice from earlier, the one that had said for her to 'watch it'. Vanellope turned herself towards it, having to tilt her chin down partially in order to look into the narrowed eyes of the speaker. The fact that it was a puppy standing on his two hind legs like he was a person didn't faze her, seeing as how she had seen _many_ strange characters in her own world.

"Don't you know anything about driving!" the whiney-voiced puppy shouted, throwing his hands (paws?) in the air to emphasize his frustration. "You're supposed to stop at a red light, you know!"

Vanellope blew her bangs out of her face tiredly, not in the mood to get scolded, especially from someone who she guessed was around her own age. "Yeah, sorry about that, but we don't have 'red lights' where I come from, so I'm not used to them."

It was true,_ Sugar Rush_ had no traffic laws being that it was a racing game. No crosswalks, no stop signs, nothing. Vanellope never even thought that other worlds might have different road rules than her own home, and she _did_ feel pretty guilty at having broken a law and almost having hurt someone in the process.

"You still need to watch where you're going or you'll run someone over!" the anthropomorphic dog continued, his paws bunched up like fists and planted on his small hips. "I had to leap out of your crazy way to keep from being roadkill, sister! Not that I can say the same for my belongings."

He jutted his thumb (how a dog had thumbs, she wasn't sure, nor cared) towards the crosswalk, and Vanellope noticed the tiny squished luggage bag. She grimaced and twirled one of her hoodie strings between two fingers.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to."

"'Sorry' doesn't get my stuff back! Now I literally have _nothing_!"

"Well, I don't have a car anymore so unless I can find someone to fix it, it looks like we're _both_ up a creek!" Vanellope huffed and stuffed her hands into her front pocket, taking a quick look around. "Look, how about we go find someone to help us out. I can get my car fixed, then I can help you get more...whatever that was you had with you...and then drive you wherever you want."

The puppy's eyes went wide and his paws went limp at his side. "Really? You wouldn't mind helping me?"

He seemed so shocked at the kind offer, that Vanellope found it a little unnerving. "Well, yeah, ga-doi," she shrugged. "Why wouldn't I? It's only the right thing to do after I wrecked your stuff." She held back a giggle at the thought of her 'wrecking' things like Ralph does.

"I...I guess so," he replied uncertainly, as if completely baffled at her words, his eyes avoiding her gaze now. "This isn't a trick, is it?"

She blinked her hazel eyes at him. "Why would I do that?"

"Wouldn't be the first time it happened," she heard him mutter under his breath. She decided she was better off not knowing.

* * *

"So what's a Disney character doing in Hanna-Barbera City?"

Vanellope glimpsed down and to the left of her at her traveling companion. "Is that where we are?"

"You drove all the way here from Disney and didn't even know where you were heading?" the puppy asked incredulously, giving her a flat look.

She shrugged, continuing to walk on the sidewalk. "I had things on my mind and wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Obviously."

She ignored that. "How'd you know I was a Disney character?"

The pup pointed to his nose as if that was enough of an answer. "Everyone has a 'blueprint smell' on where they came from. _You_ smell like Disney." He sniffed the air a couple of times, then added, "And candy. Licorice and vanilla, to be precise."

"You oughta be a detective with a nose like that," Vanellope commented dryly, though she was partly telling the truth.

She didn't get an answer right away, but she heard, "I _was_ one, a long time ago."

Vanellope didn't know what that was supposed to mean. "You never did tell me your name."

"You never told me _yours_. Seeing as how you almost killed me, I think it'd make more sense for you to go first."

Good point. "I'm Vanellope von Schweetz, President of _Sugar Rush, _from the movie _Wreck-It Ralph_."

"You're a _president_?" the pint-sized pup asked her dubiously. "If that's true, why would you come riding around in _this _dump instead of hanging out in your own cushy crib?"

She stopped in her tracks and glared down at him, beginning to get peeved with his attitude. "Look, I'm having a really crummy day, and you bugging me isn't really helping my mood any!"

"Oh, excuse me, President Sweet Tooth! It's not _my_ fault that you ignored traffic laws and nearly killed me! Maybe you should just stick to your own kind where you're beloved by all! Yeah, I bet you have all kinds of people just _flocking_ to come hang out with you!"

Vanellope clenched her fists and grit her teeth, her whole body shaking. "I'm _not_ beloved by all!" she shakily admitted out loud, her voice cracking. "People think I'm annoying and don't think I'm a good ruler, so just shut up!"

She sat herself down on the sidewalk curb, resting her face down on top of her bent knees and wrapping her arms around her so no one could see her cry. It was embarrassing to be having a meltdown in front of a stranger in the middle of a strange neighborhood, but she couldn't help herself. All the ugly comments made about her that she'd accidentally stumbled across came flashing back into her memory, and a tidal wave of tears escaped her eyes as she choked her sobs out.

"Hey, I'm...sorry. I didn't mean to judge."

The puppy sounded sincere, his voice softer than it had been in the past. It was the first time that he'd even sounded like a little kid, if Vanellope had to be honest. He couldn't have been much older than she was, even if he did sound like a jaded grown-up sometimes. Vanellope lifted her head, flicking back her bangs that had gotten wet with her tears back behind her ears and then wiped at her eyes with her palms. She heaved a sigh out and hugged her arms around her legs, propping her chin on her forearms.

"I guess it was pretty stupid of me to think I was super popular," she said quietly as she stared at the random bits of litter that occupied the gutter across the street. "My movie's only been out for a year, and I'm just now finding out that some people can't stand me."

Her fellow traveler said nothing at first, then she sensed him sitting down beside her, his ridiculously short legs barely able to dangle properly. "Well, you're still a popular character, aren't you?"

Vanellope rubbed her face on her sleeve to further dry it. "Yeah," she admitted in a whisper. "Ralph, he's the main star, even jokes that I'm more popular than _he_ is."

"Well what are you complaining about?_" _he asked her, his voice starting to regain a bit of his former spunk. "I can count the number of fans _I_ have on one paw. I'd kill to just have a _few_ haters."

Vanellope snorted in disbelief. "You can't be _that_ hated. Even movie villains are more popular than that."

"Depending on who you ask, I'm _worse_ than a villain. Heck, I got portrayed as one in my show's live action movie!" He crossed his arms in front of him and tried to kick at a pebble that was underneath his foot, only to miss. "Which is completely ridiculous. I'd never do anything like that to hurt my uncle _or_ the rest of the gang."

Vanellope couldn't imagine a puppy being villainous. Then again, appearances could be deceiving, especially when it came to fictional characters. Maybe this pup really _was_ some evil mastermind, and he was just too full of himself to notice it.

Or maybe he was just a normal little kid that got bullied a lot like _she_ used to be.

"Well...I'm sorry to hear that," she heard herself say, tilting her head to the side so she could see him better. "What's your name anyway? I told you mine."

His eyes bugged out slightly, then he pulled at his turquoise dog collar he wore (did he have an owner?) nervously before swallowing a huge gulp. "Uh...well, being that you haven't existed very long, I'm not completely sure if you've heard of me, but-"

"Look at that, Muttley!" shouted a voice that Vanellope had never in her life heard before. She jerked her head up towards the road to see a man in a most bizarre vehicle, wearing an old-timey purple duster and a red-and-purple hat along with a smirk framed by a long thin mustache. "If it isn't Scrappy-Doo, the downfall of the entire Doo dynasty!"

A scruffy dog (whom Vanellope assumed was 'Muttley') sitting beside the man riding in the open-topped vehicle wheezed a few laughs while pointing at the brown-colored puppy (apparently, his name was Scrappy) that Vanellope had been journeying with. Vanellope turned her head towards him and saw that he had dropped his head down submissively, his pointed ears drooped slightly now while his big eyes stared dully at the ground below him.

"I'd find some better company if I were you, little girl!" the mustached stranger called out to her. "Unless you just _want_ to hang out with franchise-destroying hoodlums!"

Vanellope felt something snap inside of her. She had been bullied for most of her life (well, that's what her backstory implied), and what with this recent discovery of hers involving _Wreck-It Ralph_ fandom members poking fun at her, she was feeling extra sensitive about witnessing it happen to someone else. She found herself standing up and, before she was fully aware of what she was doing, cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled,

"What do _you_ know, you stupid diaper baby! Go pick on someone your own size!"

She felt her face get hot with anger when the man threw his head back and laughed at her. "Oh, that's just precious, isn't it, Muttley? A little pipsqueak with dirty hair dares to argue with me!"

"If I had my kart fixed, I bet I would run your stupid ugly car into the mud!"

"That's cute, kid, call me when you're actually old enough to drive!" the man cackled, speeding off before she could retort back. Obviously, he wouldn't have known that she was a talented racer since he didn't know her, so she decided to let the misunderstanding slide.

"Sweet mother of monkey milk, who _was_ that creep!" Vanellope asked angrily, throwing her arms out in the direction that he sped off in.

"That was Dick Dastardly, an evil racer that always cheats to win but always has his plans backfire," Scrappy rambled off enthusiastically, still staring lifelessly at the ground. "And he's really popular with fans."

Vanellope opened her mouth to ask why the heck anyone would like a jerk like that, but then again she figured if people were fans of the villain in her own movie, then it was possible for this Dastardly person to have fans also. She made a mental note to come back to this place with Ralph one day so she could search him out and challenge him properly to a race.

"Geez, how the heck does a guy like that have fans, but not you?" she asked instead. "What was he even talking about? Downfall of something-or-another."

Scrappy sighed before answering. "Look, Penelope-"

"Vanellope."

"Whatever," he dismissed quietly. "You're talking to the most universally hated cartoon character ever created. I was popular for an extremely short time when the creators first added me in as a new character to my uncle's franchise. After that, the company decided to focus more on _me_ than my uncle, and the audience got real sick of me and started crediting me with the show's demise."

"That's stupid. That's not _your_ fault," Vanellope argued.

"I know that, but it doesn't stop people from hating my guts. Like I said, even the company treats me like a villain, when that wasn't my role on the show."

Vanellope thought that sounded highly unfair. It also scared her a bit. She herself was popular for the most part...what if more and more people started hating her like they did this puppy?

The small canine picked himself up from the curb, looking up at her with a pair of strangely solemn eyes for one his age. Then again, he'd been around for several decades now, so in a way he really was more of an adult than Vanellope was.

"I know you're upset that you found out some people dislike you," Scrappy told her, "but that's just how it is in fandoms. It isn't possible for _everyone_ to love you. That's a fact of life. But I don't think you have anything to worry about. When it comes to movie characters, most people don't change their opinion. TV show characters, like I am, get exposed to the public more, so people are more likely to change their minds about them. So I wouldn't let a few ugly comments get you down."

He had a point, Vanellope had to admit. In fact, she felt a little guilty that she had gotten so upset over a few people disliking her when this pup here was scorned world-wide and had dealt with it for decades.

"Yeah, you're right," she said out loud finally, sticking her hands back inside the front part of her hoodie. "I should be grateful for what I have. And so should _you_."

She poked him on his nose for emphasis, making him blink and shake his head to rid himself of the feeling. "What are you talking about? Have you been listening to me? I'm 'universally hated', what do I have to be grateful for?"

"You said earlier that you could count the number of fans you had on one paw," she reminded him with a casual shrug. "So that means that not _everyone_ hates you, right?"

Scrappy looked almost enlightened by this, as if he had never thought about his situation that way. "Yeah...I guess you're right," he mused out loud slowly. "I'm so used to people thinking I'm the scourge of the fictional world, that I guess I forgot how to look at the cup half-full."

"I think we both need to learn to count our blessings," Vanellope smiled at him, patting him on the head in between his ears like she would a regular, non-speaking puppy. "Come on, let's go find someone to fix my car so I can help ya replace your luggage I ran over."

She turned to continue down the sidewalk, her new friend tagging along beside her. After a few seconds, a thought came to her, and she had to bite her lip to try to force a snicker from coming out, which didn't entirely work. "Seriously, _doo_? That's actually a part of your name?"

"I wouldn't talking, you have a weird name too."

"At least I can't make a 'doody' joke, or any other toilet humor joke, with _my_ name."

"Oh, you mean like, Vanello-_pee_?"

"Wow, finally, someone besides Ralph who speaks my language!"

* * *

_I came up with this after I realized that the "Vanellope hate" that sometimes occurs in the Wreck-It Ralph fandom is similar to "Scrappy hate". They both are purposely written to be smart-mouthed kids and some people just simply do not like characters like that. Only difference is that Vanellope is actually really popular, and most people stick up for her when she gets hated on. Scrappy's universally hated by almost everyone who ever watched Scooby-Doo (although I personally always liked him, as did my brother), so he doesn't get this luxury. I thought if the two of them ever met, they would become pretty good friends because they have a similar personality and also share the hater thing. _

_And yeah, I know Scrappy would be more prone to want to beat up anyone that would taunt him, but since this story takes place in a world where he's been around for decades getting hated on, I imagine that would have an effect on him and he wouldn't even bother with it anymore after a while. Oh, and the reason he had luggage was because I imagine him being homeless and moving around a lot, since he doesn't want to burden his Uncle Scooby.  
_


End file.
